Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:39
And the first of them will say to the last of them, "Then you had not any favor over us, so taste the punishment for what you used to earn."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word: وَقَالَتْ أُولاهُمْ لأُخْرَاهُمْ فَمَا كَانَ لَكُمْ عَلَيْنَا مِنْ فَضْلٍ فَذُوقُوا الْعَذَابَ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْسِبُونَ (39) ("And the first of them say to the last of them: You had no superiority over us. So taste the punishment for what you used to earn.") (39)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: And the first of every community and religious group that preceded in the worldly life say to their last ones — those who came after them and arose after their time therein, and who walked their path and followed their manner of conduct: (You had no superiority over us), while you have nevertheless seen what punishment from Allah, whose praise is exalted, befell us on account of our disobedience to Him and our disbelief (kufr) regarding His signs, after the messengers and the warners had come therewith to us and to you. Did you then turn to obedience to Allah and turn away from your folly and error? Thus the argument of the people ended and they were refuted, and they were not able to give any answer, such that they might say: "We are favored above you, for we drew a lesson from you and so believed in Allah and affirmed His messengers." Allah says to them all: So taste then, all of you, O disbelievers, the punishment of Hell (jahannam), for what you used to earn in the worldly life of sins and disobediences, and of crimes and misdeeds that you committed.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* The mention of who said that:
14599 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: al-Muʿtamir related to us, he said: I heard ʿImrān, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, concerning (And the first of them say to the last of them: You had no superiority over us; so taste the punishment for what you used to earn), he said: he means: what superiority do you have over us, while it has been made clear to you what befell us, and you have been warned?
14600 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning (And the first of them say to the last of them: You had no superiority over us): for you have gone astray just as we have gone astray.
And Mujāhid used to say concerning this, as transmitted in:
14601 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (You had no superiority over us), he said: in the lightening of the punishment.
14602 — al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (You had no superiority over us), he said: in lightening.
And this statement which we have mentioned from Mujāhid is a statement that has no meaning, for the statement of the speakers "You had no superiority over us" to those to whom they said it is merely a reproach of them for what had preceded them before that state; to this the insertion of "kāna" (used to / was) in the statement points. And if this had been from them a reproach for their statement which they had directed to their Lord: "Give them a double punishment of the Fire," then the reproach would have had to read: "You have no superiority over us in the lightening of the punishment for you, since you have indeed been struck by that of the punishment which has struck us also," and he would not have said: "You had no superiority over us."
